On a recent press trip to Georgia, the group of writers were given the option to rent bikes to tour St. Simons Island during their free time. Not wanting to miss any opportunity for adventure, I opted in hoping that the “it’s like riding a bike” saying rings true even when the activity is actually riding a bike.

My last one may have had training wheels.

Along with a handful of others we walked a block from our hotel, the King & Prince Resort, and picked up our bikes from Ocean Motion Surf Co. Armed with a basket, a lock and a map the adventure began.

The plan was to head East on Ocean Boulevard, through the residential areas all the way to the end which would plant us on St. Simons East Beach, a breathtaking long stretch of flat white sand.

Then we would turn around and head back, the same way we came, to the quaint downtown for a bit of shopping. A nice plan.

Cruising along on flat pavement, wind in my hair, it felt good to be getting some sort of exercise while also exploring a new town. We took a right down 11th Street where there was a beach front entrance. And when we reached the entry path I got off my bike ready to lock it up to the post when our fearless leader, the only man in the bunch, pushed his bike further in the deep sand towards the water.

What was he doing? I don’t want to have to push this bike back up this path.

He turned around and said, “do you want to ride our bikes on the beach?”

Uh…No. I was getting winded just pushing mine on the path.

And then, we reached the flattest and whitest stretch, with the finest sand I had every seen. It could have easily been mistaken for the Caribbean, but we were in St. Simons, Georgia. Who would have known.

We got on our cycles and rode alongside the water, passing sunbathers, horseshoe crabs and heron birds along the way. Scenic to say the least.

We took this beachfront ‘road’ all the way back to the King & Prince. And I did it without bursting a lung. Barely. But, I did have to walk my bike a quarter of the way.

This is one of those memorable experiences that would have never happened if I didn’t say yes to the opportunity when it presented itself. The moral? Say yes (even when your lungs are saying no) to opportunities.

Have you ever ridden a bike on the beach? Where else can you do it?

Disclosure: This excursion was sponsored by Ocean Motion Surf Co. & the King & Prince Beach & Golf Resort in St. Simons, but all the words I write come straight from my, sometimes distorted, mind. Just as it should be.